Writers: Roller Coasters Can Be Fun
Growing up, roller coasters were my favorite amusement park ride. I especially remember one at Chicago’s now-defunct Riverview Park (which offered a bird’s-eye view of Wrigley Field).
As we finished, my father chuckled; apparently my 10-year-old eyes had widened to the size of saucers as I grabbed the car’s rails. But fear didn’t create the reaction that sparked Dad’s laughter. I was mesmerized by each dip and turn. I loved it!
I’m not always as fond of the freelancing roller coaster. After a 6% decline in 2024 revenue, this year started out better. But it’s hard to predict where the income statement will settle come Dec. 31.
As anyone who has ventured into any freelance endeavor—such as writing, painting, or making music—can attest, the climbs can be exhilarating. But the dips can turn your stomach into knots. This doesn’t get any easier with experience.
And yet, I regularly remind myself that because I don’t always know what’s coming, I can enjoy the rewards of projects that come to me. No cold calls, other marketing, no pitches on LinkedIn. They just appear.
Take the one that came out of nowhere last October. My stomach had been doing twirls after a book project I had expected to start on in August went south.
A week after promising to send me background material, the author decided to put the project on hold “until January” (maybe he meant 2026).
The next three months stayed on the soft side. Fortunately, writing and editing tasks for a foundation provided a modest retainer, but not enough to replace vanishing book projects.
Then, in mid-October, an editor at a publishing house I used to work for emailed to ask if she could forward my contact information to an author. I had edited the woman’s first book five years earlier.
This publisher wasn’t going to release her newest book, but the author liked what I had done on her first book and wanted me to edit for her again.
I said, “Sure.” The author called the same day, sent the manuscript the next, and mailed a deposit a few days later.
The best part of the deal: I enjoyed working on her book as much as I had the previous title.
As I was in the final stages, a fellow member of my Christian editors’ group emailed me to see if I would be interested in talking with another author. A few days before I wrapped up edits on the first manuscript, author #2 and I had our first call.
To say we “clicked” would be an understatement. Soon we had reached an agreement. He sent me the down payment via Zelle a couple hours after my wife emailed him the invoice.
I am reluctant to divulge an author’s name or book title ahead of publication, but I will say this is one of the best books I have worked on in my 30-plus years of writing and editing.
No sooner had I finished work on that book than I heard (again, unexpectedly) from an author I had worked with in 2021. He told me his first book was still touching lives, and he wanted help revising and updating it.
Unfortunately, this contact has yet to yield anything. But while waiting to hear from him, another author I helped with a small book in early 2025 asked me to edit two others he plans to self-publish.
Surprise! If you are freelancing and hit one of those inevitable income dips, remind yourself that God hasn’t forgotten you. He may be about to take you to the top of the loop.
